


Infection

by SleepsWithCoyotes



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 20:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6208486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All they have to do is find the antidote.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infection

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my 2008 "thirteen things" Halloween theme - this one is #1, zombies.

"Brother," Al says, and there's a quaver in his voice that hadn't been there just a few hours ago. "Ed. Maybe we should--"

"It's here somewhere," Ed says, tossing books aside, ignoring the thump and flutter as they hit the floor, the wall. Something tears, but it's not from the book he needs. He can apologize to the library later. Maybe. "Have you looked on your side? It's green. Gold lettering."

"I don't...I don't think--"

"Al, come _on. Help_ me."

Something crashes by the front gates. There's a squeal of brakes, shouts, then gunfire. No crackle of an alchemical reaction, but maybe he just can't hear it over all the rest. He wonders if a military base can run out of ammunition.

"No," Al says, "it's not over here. Are you sure you didn't return it?"

Fuck, he hopes not. They'll never make it to the Central library in time.

But the desk is clear of everything but scuff-marks and scratches, terribly empty. No book. He's sure he left it right there.

He clenches his fists, bows his head and tries to _think._

"Okay," he says, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Okay, it went something like this. You start with a Lendell Array, but with a Maurer Loop; the process has to be done _twice,_ all right? Once will just--" Kill them, but he can't bring himself to say it. It gets stuck in his throat. "Anyway. The tricky part is the glyphs, because I think...I think that idiot did something different, and if he was trying to improve on Lendell, then he might have--"

"Brother."

"--I mean, that looked like he'd been reading Matheson to me, and _you_ remember--"

_"Brother."_

"--all the good _that_ did, but if he...if he really brought her back--"

_"Ed!"_

Well. No. He doesn't know what their rogue alchemist brought back, but it probably wasn't his wife. And they can't exactly ask him anymore, because the dead don't talk much. Though they move pretty quickly when they want to.

"What?" he asks distractedly, eyes sliding toward the window. He can just see the edge of the front gate from here, but only because it's been swung wide open, hanging half off its hinges.

"Why are you telling _me_ the Array? You already know it--"

"Because they won't go after you," he says, forcing the words out one by one. "They didn't even look at you until I caught up with you, remember? So if anything happens--"

"Nothing's going to _happen_ \--"

"--I'm counting on you to fix it. The way it's spreading...it's just like a virus, right? So all you need to do is find the antidote, and--"

He spins around when the door slams open at his back, but before he can clap his hands together, a familiar figure in blue slips in and kicks the door closed behind him. The Colonel's actually breathing hard for once, and while Ed would love to point that out, there really isn't time.

"They're in the compound," Roy says tightly, dark eyes taking in the wreckage of books, Al's belligerent posture, Ed's frazzled state. The Colonel looks pretty tightly-strung himself, his uniform dusted with ash, hair falling into his eyes, one gloved hand clasped tight around a bicep. "Any ideas?"

"Lendell," Ed says, watching Roy frown like he knows the name but just can't remember why. "He did all that work in the colonies, remember? Fixing that mess when the locals were "resurrecting" people who were still alive."

Roy nods as his expression clears, still intent but willing to listen.

"Right. The problem is, I'm pretty sure Steinmetz changed the formula when he tried to bring back his wife, but I don't know how. And it shouldn't be _contagious._ I think we can work out a cure, but...we're probably going to need someone infected to test it out on first."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Roy says, and something about his smile makes the bottom fall out of Ed's stomach.

He drops his eyes and wonders how he missed it before. Roy's glove--the whole sleeve of his jacket--is stained: red against white and black on blue.

"Work fast," the Colonel says, and Ed nods once, starts kicking books to the side, clearing a space to draw the first Array he's attempted by hand in years.


End file.
